After the launch of the new Fallout DLC Expansion, Fallout 4 Automatron, Bethesda have released their new patch for the game today which includes a beta version of ‘Survival’ Mode, you can grab this mode by opting into the beta on Steam which is explained HERE.
Bethesda released a blog post explaining that the release of this content was to hopefully force players to make interesting choices
“At a high level, we wanted to force you to make interesting choices. We did that by bringing more contrasting motivations to Fallout 4 using the type of circular systems you might find in a game like Dark Souls. (By which we mean, two or more systems that push against each other.) This resulted in four major pillars for Survival Mode”
Survival Modes Four Major Pillars:
- Strategy: Intensify decisions involving when to get into combat versus when to avoid it, and also make you think more about what gear to take into combat. Then back up those decisions with faster, more brutal fights.
- Exploration: Slow down the pace of the game and encourage players to explore the nooks and crannies of the world.
- Resource Management: Balance out items in the world that may be too easy to acquire or horde, giving players more to consider when planning their current loadout.
- Role Playing: Increase the realism of the world and the issues one might face there.
Here are some of the key features survival mode has to offer:
- Quicksaving and almost all auto saves are disabled. The only way is it sleep for at least an hour in bed. The bed type also takes effect as to how long you can sleep for.
- Fast travel is disable
- You now deal more damage, but you also take more damage. Players can also further increase their damage with the new “Adrenaline” perk, Bethesda explained. Every five kills increases your Adrenaline rank, adding 5 percent each time for up to 50 percent damage at the max rank of 10.
- Combat is now “more strategic,” as you will need to make use of block/parry to stay alive
- Threats (outside of those added by a Recon scope) will not display on your compass; additionally, the distance at which areas of interest will show up has been “significantly shorted.”
- You will also need to take care of yourself, staying hydrated, fed, and rested. Don’t eat, drink, or sleep for a while and your health will deteriorate.
- Fatigue will affect your Action Points, meaning the more Fatigue you have, the less Action Points you’ll have available for sprinting and using V.A.T.S.
Survival mode also introduces illness and so players can therefore contract illnesses which will affect how you play. Certain enemies will give different illnesses. Bethesda also mentioned that stimpacks are no longer the fix-all drug it used to be and healing in total is a lot slower.
These are some of the tasters Bethesda have released with this patch. For a full run down of the survival beta be sure to head over to their blog post HERE.
Survival mode will find its way to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in April alongside its next expansion, Wasteland Workshop.